The Quickening
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Follows up "Gemini" and "Kidnapped". AU, Connor MacLeod has left to face a challenge and settle an old score; in the process he reunites Richie with his sister and leaves her in Duncan and Tessa's care. But they quickly discover Connor's absence doesn't mean they're safe from the Immortal hunting him, and find there are more players in *this* game than they originally thought.
1. Chapter 1

The Quickening

Connor MacLeod held the phone receiver to his ear for a few seconds after the caller on the other end had hung up. Shock? A delayed reaction to the sudden news? Whatever it was, it finally passed, he looked at the receiver before slamming it down. The almost 475 year old man groaned softly and ran a hand over one side of his face and up through his hair. It was little after 5 o' clock in the morning and already his day was shot to hell with this phone call and what it meant. He tried to gather his thoughts, what was he going to do first? He was reluctant to take off, running from an avoidable fight wasn't and had never been his style, that more belonged to his longtime friend, Methos. However, Connor had to remind himself that it wasn't _just_ himself anymore, he had someone else to consider.

Time was short, he had to make his decision now. Against his better judgment, kicking himself for it, beating himself up for this decision, he decided he _would_ run. He needed to get away and buy some time to figure out what he was going to do. He also had to get the occupant of the other bedroom someplace safe and out of the line of fire.

He was already dressed. He'd been asleep when the phone rang but he'd fallen asleep the night before in the jeans and sweat shirt he'd worn the day before. He put on his white sneakers and ran down the hall to the other bedroom, there was no time to lose. He didn't even bother turning on the light, he just went over to the figure sleeping in the bed and pulled.

"Hmm….what's going on, Connor?" Richelle Ryan tiredly asked as she slowly started to come around.

By this time, Connor had pulled her out of the bed and wound up taking some of the covers with her. He half tucked the sheets under her as he picked her up and carried her out of the room and ran down the hall and down the stairs and told her, "We're going on a little trip."

He just hoped they actually had the time to get out to the car and get the hell out of here before everything _went_ to hell.

By now, Richelle was a bit more awake and alert and she held tightly to Connor's back as she asked him, "Connor, what's going on? Where're we going?"

Outside it was still pitch dark, they were so far out of the city limits that they could actually still see the stars, just about everything else was dark except for a couple of street lamps on opposite ends of the block. Connor was thankful that Richelle had forgotten to put the windows up in the car the night before, it made it much easier to just slip her into the passenger side. He got in on the other side and in three seconds had the engine turned over and the car thrown into drive and they did a sharp U turn and tore off down the street. Connor half let out the breath he was holding onto, they'd gotten out of the house, and they were already halfway out of the neighborhood, but he wasn't convinced that they were out of the woods just yet, and he wouldn't be until he _knew_ they'd gotten out in time.

"Well?" Richelle asked him.

He looked at her and said, trying to sound nonchalant, "I think you've been spending too much time in the city, I think it's time we took a trip to a more rural area, out of the way, lot of wide open spaces, clean air, lot of grass and big bodies of water."

"For _that_ you drag me out of bed at 5 in the morning?" Richelle asked, "Where're we even going?"

"I know a place," Connor said, and he hoped they reached that destination without being followed.

* * *

Richie Ryan sat on the wrap around railing that surrounded the porch of the cabin Duncan had taken he and Tessa to and looked around. The place stood a good seven feet from the ground thanks to a lot of stairs, and as far as the eye could see there was nothing but land and out past that, a lot of water, one big as hell lake that nobody was occupying. For that matter, he hadn't seen anyone out here since they'd arrived.

"Okay…" he said, trying to break the silence that had been in effect for about 10 minutes, "So…what exactly do you do out here all day?"

Tessa stepped out on the porch and pointed out to the lake, "People go swimming in the lake or rent boats and go cruising around, some water ski."

"Ha…no thanks," Richie replied as he planted his feet on the railing and drew his knees towards his chest, "I think I'll stay on the land, thank you very much. What do they have in store for solid ground?"

"What's the matter, Richie?" Duncan asked as he joined the others on the porch, "Worried you're going to be bored?"

"Nooo," Richie insisted cynically, "I just want to make sure I don't keel over from all the excitement and stimulating activities…" he looked to Duncan and asked, "So how long's this friend of yours letting you use the place?"

"Oh we figured on a couple of weeks, by that time we ought to be back in Seacouver," Duncan said.

"Terrific," Richie muttered to himself, "Two weeks in this place…no TV, no neighbors, no contact whatsoever with the outside world, should be great," he looked around and added to himself, "I'd drown myself."

Richie was sure he was just already homesick and going slightly crazy from the lack of interaction with other human beings and the noises of daily life back in the city, but he could've sworn he heard…no, he _did_ hear, he turned and saw a car heading their way.

"Hey Mac," he said, "You expecting anyone?"

"No," Duncan went over to the railing and looked out and also saw the car approaching the property.

Tessa looked worried, "Mac?"

Duncan watched as the car drew closer at an unyielding speed, and when it got close enough for him to get a good look at, he looked even more confused.

"It's Connor," he said.

Richie looked and saw that there was someone in the passenger side of the car. "Richelle!"

It didn't make sense because they weren't expected to come out and visit with them for two more weeks until they got back to Seacouver, but Richie didn't care, he was glad that they were back. Alright, maybe now there'd be something to do around here.

* * *

"There they are," Connor said, looking up to the elevated porch, he turned to Richelle and added, "Now remember what I told you."

Richelle didn't look happy about it but she slowly nodded, "Alright, Connor."

Connor reached over with one hand and traced through the hair on the side of her head, then he leaned over and kissed her. Ordinarily Richelle would've elbowed him in the face for even trying, but this time she didn't even bother. She just reached over and opened her door and started out.

Richie was already running down the stairs and out to the car to meet them, Tessa and Duncan a few feet behind him. Richelle got out but kept her door open and kept it between she and her brother as he came up to her. She folded her arms over the top of the door and looked to Richie as if she was bored. Connor was getting her bags out of the backseat, they hadn't taken any of her stuff out of the car since she got back from the airport, for which he was very glad now.

"Hey sis!" Richie called as he ran over to her, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming too?"

Richelle just shrugged and replied, "Didn't know."

"Connor," Duncan said as he and Tessa came up to the other man, "What's going on?"

"Sorry," Connor replied with a prepared smile, "I can't stay," he handed Richelle's bags to Duncan and the unexpected weight of them about caused him to drop them both, "I just came to drop Richelle off before I was on my way."

"On your way _where_?" Tessa asked, clearly not understanding anything that was going on, and it was obvious from the look on Duncan's face that he didn't know anymore about it than she did.

"Sorry, that's classified," Connor answered, then turned to his cousin and said, "Now Duncan, I want you to promise me that I'm not going to come back and find Richelle cooking in the oven with an apple in her mouth."

"What's going on, Connor?" Duncan asked. Despite the elder clansman's optimistic act, Duncan was able to see through that much anyway, he knew something was wrong, "What's the matter?"

"Just a little private business I need to take care of," Connor explained, "And I can't take Richelle with me so I'm leaving her here in your care."

"I don't understand, Connor, what's the meaning of all this?" Tessa asked.

Connor gave a half shrug and told her, "Just business as usual, Tessa, I need to tend to it, and I need you two to keep an eye on Richelle for me until I get back."

"Why didn't you just let her stay at the house?" Duncan asked.

"_What_?" Connor responded in disbelief, "And come back to find out she burnt it to the ground?" he shook his head.

Connor walked back to his car and Duncan walked right behind him, refusing to let this go. "Connor, _what_ is going on?"

"I'm not telling you," Connor told him.

"_Where_ are you going?" Duncan wanted to know.

"I'm not telling you _that_ either," Connor replied.

"Connor!" Duncan grabbed his cousin by the back of his jacket and simultaneously turned him around and threw him against the side of the car. Having the elder man's attention now, Duncan looked him dead in the eyes and demanded to know, "_Who_ is it?"

Connor merely shook his head and insisted, "This is _my_ fight, cousin, _not_ yours,_ you_ are going to have your hands full as it is keeping an eye on the Hunch Bunch over there."

Connor walked away from him, and Duncan still didn't understand, he felt threatened by this brush off he was getting, and he called after Connor, "Why won't you tell me where you're going?"

Connor turned around and answered, "Precisely so you _can't_ follow me. You're not getting off the hook of babysitting _that_ easy."

On the other side of the car, Richelle had slammed her door shut and started explaining the situation as best as she could to her brother, but it was obvious she was about as much in the dark as the rest of them.

"I don't know, Richie, guy comes into my room drags me out of bed at 5 A.M., carries me down to the car, doesn't even let me get _dressed_," she emphasized this point by tugging on the seams of her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nightshirt that she was still wearing, "We spend the next 3 hours on the road coming _here_ because he remembered Duncan mentioning you guys were going to be vacationing _here_ for a couple weeks. Says I'm to stay here with you guys and not cause _too_ much trouble for the fathead over there. I don't get it and he wouldn't tell me anything."

They watched Connor get in the car, start it up, back it up several feet, then turn around and go back the way they came, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.

"Well that was certainly rude," Richie commented.

Richelle reached over and gripped his arm tightly and murmured to him, "Richie, I don't think Connor's coming back."

He looked at his sister and asked, "What, you think he's ditching you?"

Richelle leaned over to say into his ear so the others couldn't hear her, but Richie could hear loud and clear the worry in her tone as she told him, "I think he's going to die." Richie pulled back and looked at his sister and she had a melancholic look on her face and she told him, "He's going off to fight some Immortal and I _don't_ think he's going to come back alive from it this time, I don't know _why_, I just think it. But he was acting weird before we got here, talking about a lot of stuff that didn't make any sense, and he said not to repeat any of it, especially in front of _them_." She glanced over to Duncan and Tessa.


	2. Chapter 2

"Richelle," Duncan said to the girl as the dust storm left in Connor's tracks gradually started to die down, "Did Connor tell you where he was going?"

Richelle heard him but didn't hear what he said, she looked at him but she didn't see him. Her whole world as she knew it had just disappeared, Connor was gone, she didn't know where, the odds were he wasn't coming back, and the fact that he hadn't even told her _where_ he was going only seemed to confirm that thought. He knew she knew how to keep her mouth shut, it wasn't that he didn't inform her for fear she'd tell Duncan, it was something else, but what?

"He barely told me we were even coming _here_," Richelle answered, "He didn't say anything about where he was going."

"Did he say _who_ he was going after?"

"No," she shook her head, "I don't know _anything_. And I don't know why I've been dropped off _here_ of all places. Like I told Richie, Connor dragged me out of bed at 5 this morning and just told me we were going on a drive, it was only half an hour ago he told me we were coming _here_, but he neglected to mention that the 'we' was only going to be _me_. We just tore out of there, I didn't even have time to pack anything."

Tessa took notice for the first time since Richelle arrived that she was still dressed for bed, in a long green nightshirt, a rag tied around her short red curly hair, bare feet, and little else. She told the girl, "We can get some of Richie's clothes for you to wear."

"Don't bother," Richelle picked up one of her bags and said, "Fortunately I hadn't gotten around to unpacking my stuff since I got back to New York three days ago. Now it's just a matter of finding something that's actually been _washed_."

Duncan's mind was spinning. He couldn't make heads or tails of anything that was going on, it took him a couple minutes to actually say, "Well come on in, we'll get a place set up for you."

After the incidents that had taken place prior to last Christmas, the relationship that existed between Duncan and Richelle had improved immensely. Richelle was still Richelle and therefore there couldn't be a single visit of hers passed by in which she didn't in some way try to rile the highlander up, but they were hardly at each other's throats like they used to be in the last year. That was something they were all grateful for…well, on the Seacouver side anyway, there was never any way to tell what was going through Richelle's head.

Connor had warned her not to make too much trouble, all the same she couldn't resist tossing one of her bags at him unexpectedly and dryly commenting, "How kind of you."

* * *

There were only two bedrooms in the cabin, so naturally once again Richie and his sister were going to be bunking together, fortunately each room came with a full sized double bed. The twins had retreated to Richie's room so they could talk amongst themselves while Richelle got changed; she took one of her bags and stepped behind the open door to the closet to get dressed.

"You really think Connor's going to get himself killed?" Richie asked.

"The thought _has_ crossed my mind," came the response behind the door.

"Come on, he's almost 500 years old, he's not going to let himself get whacked by some bastard _now_."

"I hope not," Richelle told him, "But I'm worried that's exactly what's going to happen. But one thing's for certain, no matter what we think or _know_, we can't let Tessa or Duncan know about it. You know how Mac is, he's a stubborn jackass, he'd _still_ try taking off to find Connor if he suspected we knew the situation was worse than we're _supposed_ to know."

Richie sat on the edge of the bed and kicked his feet against the bedstead and responded, "Maybe he ought to, maybe he could help Connor."

"When has a student _ever_ helped his teacher?" Richelle asked, "Besides, you know Mac's too self righteous to impose on the 'one on one only' rule in a fight, he wouldn't break it even if it meant saving Connor's life, so what the hell good _could_ he do?"

There was a knock at the door, a second later it opened and Tessa stepped into the room. She looked around and asked Richie, "Where's your sister?"

"_Here_ she is," Richelle kicked the door open and stepped out, surprising both of them as they saw her in a strapless orange dress that looked similar to what Lisa Simpson wore.

Richie felt his eyes bug out and his mouth drop open but other than that, he couldn't get his brain to function enough to make any kind of response. Fortunately Tessa came through on that one.

"Richelle…that's a very…" it was the _first_ dress they'd ever seen her in, "Interesting dress…_where_ did you get it from?"

"Oh," Richelle seemed a bit embarrassed as she answered, "Connor had it made for me back in New York, he knows someone who does custom designs." She looked to Richie and said with a small smirk, "I bet that's one thing Duncan doesn't know about Connor, his cousin's a _big_ Tracy Ullman fan."

Richie was sure he'd get smacked for it, but he couldn't resist giving her a brief look up and down, just unbelievable. "I never thought _I'd_ live to see the day."

"Yeah well, you haven't quite _yet_ either," Richelle hiked up her skirt and showed she was wearing a pair of jean shorts underneath it. Then she picked up a pair of white sneakers from her bag and sat down on the bed to put them on.

Tessa knew that Richelle was just as confused about what was going on as the rest of them were, maybe even more, just because she'd actually been with Connor and knew better than the rest of them what was happening, didn't seem to be doing her any favors either. For now she wouldn't press the issue, she just hoped Duncan didn't bring it up either.

"If you're going to be staying with us for a while," Tessa said, "We're going to need to pick up some more groceries."

Richelle nodded tiredly and replied, "I know, back to bananas."

"I was going to go into town and do some shopping anyway," Tessa said, "And I was going to take Richie with me, to make sure we only have to make one trip, would you like to come too?"

Richelle nodded glumly, "Sure…why not?" It was almost too much of an effort not to add what she was really thinking, which was 'might have to get used to these living arrangements permanently after this'.

* * *

"I'm going to take Richie and Richelle with me to the store," Tessa told Duncan as she put on her jacket, "Are you going to come with us?"

"Ah…no, I don't think so," Duncan replied.

"Still trying to figure out where Connor's going?" Tessa asked.

Duncan gave a small smirk, "I'm that easy to read, eh?"

"Pretty much."

Whatever calm and cool demeanor Duncan had for a front quickly fell away as he confessed, "I've tried figuring out who might know what's going on, unfortunately Connor doesn't have a lot of friends he keeps in touch with, especially ones who know he's Immortal."

"You're worried about him," Tessa noted, then thought to ask, "How is this different from any other challenge he takes?"

Duncan felt a need to point out the obvious, "From the time he met with Richelle, he's never dropped her off here while he goes to find the other Immortal. _That's_ what tells me that something's wrong."

"You don't think he's going to win," Tessa said, not asked, said.

"I don't know, _that's_ the problem," Duncan answered, "If I even knew _who_ it was…it'd be something to go on…maybe if I were to head up to Connor's place…"

"It's a three hour drive, at _least_," Tessa reminded him, "Do you really mean to tell me you're going to leave _me_ at the mercy of those two for all that time? Besides, incase you forgot, we only have the one car with us, and the nearest rental agency's at least a mile into town."

"I know, I thought about that already," Duncan admitted.

"Oh…you've been giving it a _lot_ of thought I see," Tessa said.

"Connor's in trouble, I _have_ to find out what's going on," he told her.

"Alright, Mac," Tessa nodded in understanding, and added, "Just…try to do it quietly, Richelle seems worried enough about him also. I can't imagine what must be going through _her_ mind."

"Yeah well…I just wish I knew what was going through _Connor's_ right now," Duncan said.

* * *

Connor took in and let out a few quick, sharp breaths as he composed himself on the steps outside the church. It was a small Baptist church, not really his thing but holy ground was holy ground and in addition to being the only neutral territory for Immortals, not a bad place to clear his head either, or at least try to. After he'd dropped Richelle off with Duncan and the others, he'd driven for about an hour before finally realizing he wasn't _heading_ anywhere, so he pulled over at the first church he saw. He needed to clear his head and think.

Had he made the right decision? What choice did he have? He couldn't take Richelle with him, it was too dangerous, and he couldn't leave her at the house, that would've been issuing her death sentence. They'd gotten out of New York by the skin of their teeth, by now Connor was sure the entire house had been ransacked and torn apart, if anything was there to find besides them, then no doubt it had been found by now, and they would _know_.

But had they _truly_ gotten out in time? They made it across state lines without any trouble, but did that mean that they hadn't been followed? And if they _had_ been followed, would their pursuers tail after him, or would they stay back by the cabin for Richelle as a bargaining chip? No, he couldn't allow himself to think like that, even if there _was_ a possibility of that, she wasn't there alone, Duncan was there, he would make sure nothing happened to the girl. But then the question remained, what if something happened to Duncan? Connor couldn't help thinking about it, he was almost 75 years older than Duncan, and he himself was having doubts about if he was going to be able to walk away from this fight with his head intact. And though he'd debated with himself about it, he doubted that any good would've come if he'd stayed behind to help Duncan; Connor was the one with the neon target on his head now, he couldn't risk putting the others in jeopardy because of it. But then that also left the question _just_ what was he going to do now?

Sure, the answer seemed so simple, face the challenge and take the other Immortal's head. At any given time it was easier said than done, especially if you insisted on actually following the rules. But _this_ time it was especially questionable.

24 hours, hell, even 10 hours ago, 8, 6, life had been perfect, it had been as normal as it could get for someone almost 500 years old. And now he'd found himself turning tail and running like a coward. No, not like a coward he reminded himself, he was merely buying time. What was it his good friend had told him? 'Live, grow stronger, fight another day.' Yeah, all good and well in the moment when it was originally said, but there wasn't time for that now; he had to figure out what he was going to do and he had to do it soon, and also he had to find a way to track down exactly _where_ his opponent was so they could get this whole mess over with.

Realistically speaking with every challenge you faced as an Immortal there should've been that deep contemplation of would this be the time you lost? Would today be the day you lost your head? But that _wasn't_ reality for Connor, some fights you could just _tell_ going into them that you would come back out as the victor. Others were more of a puzzle and a whole lot of luck. But this time he found himself seriously contemplating that possibility that he might not walk away from this one. An Immortal, as any good fighter, as any good soldier, had to be ready to accept death at a moment's notice, which made for a very complicated way of life. For many years he'd convinced himself, he was prepared to die but just not ready, and now he wondered. Somewhere along the way he'd already started to go through the questions what if he never saw Duncan or Richelle or any of them again? Usually that ought to be the question the people on the other side asked, because even as an Immortal there was the belief that once you were dead, your worries were over and you didn't know anything. But it had never been proven. Some Quickenings were worse than others, almost as if the battle's loser refused to die, or refused to stay dead. And Dark Quickenings were especially a nightmare way to deal with a sore loser. Ah, and what about Heather? Would he _ever_ be reunited with her in death? Or would his soul stay with his lost Quickening and linger in the body of his killer?

And then there was something else Connor had wondered plenty of times. Every Immortal knew when you took another's head you also took his power with you. Sometimes you could channel that Immortal's memories. But could the same be said when you took one Immortal's head, could you channel through to the ones _he_ had killed? He'd tried several times after taking the Kurgan's head to find Ramirez's Quickening somewhere inside himself, and so far as best as he could tell, he'd had no luck in finding it. Digging both sets of fingernails against his scalp as he scratched his head in a frustrated manner, he said half to himself, "I wish you were here now you overdressed Spanish peacock, maybe you'd have the answer."

Connor heard somebody else's voice in the back of his mind. Richelle's, a memory from not so long ago.

"_Connor, why did Brenda leave you?"_

It hadn't been an easy question to answer at the time it was asked. And it wasn't an easy one to try answering now either. But all the same, Connor was for the first time actually relieved that Brenda _had_ left him. The last thing he needed right now was yet _another_ mortal's safety to worry about on account of him. It had been bad enough, it had been nightmare enough when the Kurgan kidnapped her. But it was like comparing Hiroshima to a modern nuclear missile, horrible as it had been at the time it happened, it was peanuts in comparison to what they were facing now.

* * *

Richelle's head was in the clouds the entire time that they were at the grocery store. She tried passing it off as just being tired after being awoken early and being on the road for so long, it wasn't Richie she needed to convince, but she was sure that Tessa knew there was more to it than that. She'd tried several times and several ways to focus on something else but her mind kept going back to Connor, and what he'd told her during their ride out to the cabin. He'd made her swear not to tell the others what he told her, and ordinarily that wasn't any problem; this time though, she wished more than anything that she could tell _somebody_ what she knew, maybe someone else could make sense of it. But at a choice between Duncan or Tessa or even Richie, she knew none of them would. And in all actuality, Connor had never said she couldn't tell Richie, it was just the more 'mature' of the grownups among them who were to be left in the darkness, for their own well being as much as anything.

She'd tried at the time to make some comment, a joke almost, he didn't want Duncan to know what was going on, he didn't trust Duncan, he had no faith in his own clansman. Not that she could blame him, she didn't have any in Mac either, not _really_, since she knew that a good number of the Immortals that Connor faced up against, did _not_ bother themselves with playing by the 'rules'. And if Connor was worried about this one _now_, it was very obvious that they'd never even learned what the rules were, and it left her wondering if holy ground would even still be a refuge if the two should meet.

"You alright, sis?"

She realized Richie was talking to her and it was also then that she realized the reason he was asking was because she was chewing on the choker bead necklace that she'd put on with her dress to give it a more authentic Lisa Simpson look. She took the large white beads out of her mouth and let the necklace drop back into its intended position and resumed walking with him from one aisle to the next.

"Just fine," she replied, "Never better, how about you?"

Richie was worried, he couldn't remember ever seeing his sister like this. He put a hand on her back and tried to sound reassuring as he said to her, "Don't worry, Richelle, Connor knows what he's doing."

"I know," she replied, not sounding convinced.

"He's going to come back," Richie told her, "Whatever it is, you know he'll be back."

"I hope so," she responded.

"Hey, he taught Mac everything he knows, and Mac's gone up against some real psychos, so if he can do it, Connor's got to be twice as good as Mac is," Richie said.

Richelle weakly nodded, "I know…"

"So what's got you so upset?" Richie asked.

She looked to her brother and said confidentially, "I'm not sure which bothers me more, the idea that Connor's gone off and could get himself killed…or the possibility that whoever he's gone after, is really coming after _us_ to make _him_ suffer."

Now she had Richie's attention. His eyes were wide and his mouth was closed tight, though his jaw looked like it could drop at any minute.

"We don't even know if it's _one_ Immortal or a whole rogue pack of them," Richelle started letting out some of the concerns that had been weighing heavily on her mind since her drop-off earlier that morning, "And if it's the latter, whether or not Mac's there, we could all be sitting ducks. That's the problem, Richie, we don't know _what_ we're dealing with and we also don't know _who's_ going to be the one dealing with it."

A few seconds passed with a silence so Richie could take in what she'd just pointed out, and then he said to her, "Well I hope you're happy, now you got _me_ worried."

"Well," Richelle shrugged, "Misery loves company."

"Even if that _is_ the case, we _all_ have experience with Immortals," Richie reminded her, "Hey, you remember those four goons we were stuck with last fall?"

"Methos and Kronos and their brothers, sure," Richelle nodded, "Weird friends of Connor's."

"If we could survive that then we ought to be able to survive _anybody_ that comes after us," Richie pointed out.

"I hope you're right, Richie," his sister replied and shook her head, "But I just can't shake the feeling that we could be looking at something even worse."

Richie gave her an odd look and asked, "Who could possibly be worse than those four knuckleheads?'


End file.
